Broken Stillness

by Stephen Forsyth

The roots of American Extremism

People at the extreme ends of viewpoints will eventually become violent when challenged. It starts with the need to belong, then attach a violent narrative and turns it into a community of hate.

Stephen Forsyth

Shortly after 9/11, there were two distinct movements, one was a unity of the American people, and the other a hatred of terrorism. The latter sometimes exhibited itself as a hatred of classes of people, sometimes middle-eastern people in general, sometimes specifically against Muslims. The curious thing is that one followed the other. The American people united against a common enemy, This turns into kind of a good news/bad news thing. The good news is the country was united in a way we hadn't been basically since World War Two. The bad news is that many people were deemed to be the enemy and many became victims of this perception, suffering stereotyping, discrimination, anger and even violence. I'm not proud of the bad acts committed again people who appeared to be middle eastern, but there were some lessons learned. A term was tossed around a lot, radicalization, claiming that regular Muslim people had been somehow convinced to embrace an extremist or radical view of their religion.

We Need to Stop Photoshopping the News

We cannot stand for any program that promotes the efforts of anyone seeking to dehumanize someone just because they hold different opinions. And before you say "my side would never", your side is and will continue to do this if left unchecked.

Stephen Forsyth

In 2012, amidst protests, petitions and general backlash, there was a push to stop altering model's appearance so heavily in certain magazines and advertisements. Specifically there were pushes to maintain the accurate size and face shape of the models and to minimize cover-up of natural features. The unrealistic portrayal of a model's beauty was damaging to not just the body image of people everywhere, but also to society itself. More recently, there has been a push to show models of all shapes, sizes, skin types and tones and hair colors. This stemmed from feelings that certain groups were drastically under-represented in these magazines and advertisements.

What would it take?

What would it take for you to reject your party's candidate for any office and look for someone else to vote for outside your party?

Stephen Forsyth

Say your party's candidate was:

Indicted with evidence by a grand jury for a major crime (sexual assault, homicide, grand larceny, extortion) This could be while holding an office or not.

Reverses position on a major party platform they previously endorsed (abortion,taxes, immigration) They explain they felt a duty-bound responsibility to adjust their viewpoint.

Leaked footage of them behaving significantly differently in the past than the current values they are campaigning for. They admit to the authenticity of the footage but say little else.

Accused with evidence of campaign finance violation or illegal surveillance of an opponent's campaign.

Evidence appears of the person while in office revealing secrets to an enemy nation or seeking to have an enemy nation exert it's influence to win a campaign in exchange for political favors from the person if they win.

Evidence appears of a sitting politician accepting a bribe in exchange for favorable treatment from a friend in the industry.